Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-06-01

VAASninl puOCSS VI u1C lungs. Uc Sudl4
therefore be able to see these organs in
an entirely natural state. We shall
begin with neutrality-suspicious. will
follow in it's turn
The doctor said all this in a sort OF
preamble, as he drew from his satchel
a case OF Instruments, and from the
case Of instruments a superb scapel.
The students gathered about the table
with that expectancy of flock, that eager
attention shown By all true seekers after
knowledge. It was not amusing, I can
assure you, but since I was there I did
as the others did and joined the circle
about the body. You all recall REM
brandt's ''Lesson in Anatomy" do you
notP said Gen. Gerald, appealing to
his companions. Well, add to that the
tintings, the shadows, the groupings,
of a Guerard Storer, better known as
the ''painter of nights" and you will
have some little idea of that lugubrious
scene. The body, stretched upon the
table, naked, andlying in the eight of the
lantern, was that of a man suddenly
struck by death in the very prime Of
life. Magnifcently formed, of tall,
commanding stature, and with round
and w~ell-developed muscles, he would
have been model for an artist.
There was profound silence
in the room as the doctor began his
preparations to open the body.
''This," said he, carefully adjusting
the instrument to the neck of the
corpse, ..the point at which we shall
begin the examination, is the esopha-
gus, OF gullet, the pipe that supplies
the air to the lungs and with a short,
swift turn of the wrist the doctor buried
the scalpel deeply. AS the instrument
sank into the flesh the man started up,
his pale face violently contracted, his
hands c%linched, his breast heaving,
His eyes, opening again and again.
fixed themselves upon us with strange
and untranslatable looks, a hoarse and
strangled cry forcing itself from the
purple lips. At this horrible sight the
doctor became as pale as death, then as
red as flame. With a sudden, rapid
movement of the scalpel, using all his
strength, he opened the breast of the
man from windpipe to diaphragm. At
the same time, in a voice made firm by
prodigious effort of will, he sal d to
his pupils: "Give me your attention,
please; galvanic phenomena are of no
importance-the lesson now begins"
All this passed in less than a second.
I felt my temples covered with a cold
sweat-my legs bent under me. I was
forced to hold to the upright of the Ian
tern to keep myself erect. That cry
that hoarse. gasping agonizing cry
terrified and appalled, me! I raised my
eyes to Gonzalez and to the rest of the
class-they also were CHASTITY with
fright-but no n spoke, no one
moved, no one dared to risk even a
gesture. They understood instinctively
that the doctor, convinced of the impos-
sibility Of restoring the man after the
wound he had given him, had taken the
surest and promptest way of finishing
him. No matter what had been the
ruling motive in this mangling of the
poor wretch before us, humanity, phil
anthropy, self-interest, he had never
theless been assasinated. What must
have been the feelings of that physician
as, never for an instant losing his pres
| ence of mind, he forced himself to con-
tinue the lesson! He perceived, of
course, the embarrassment of his audi
tors. distracted by the memory of that
terrible cry, that imploring look; yet
nothing in face or manner betrayed it.
After the first involuntary tremor
not a muscle %quivered; his voice was
never calmer, his sentences more sonor-
ously rounded, fluent. o. eloquent.
The uneasiness was general, and at
the close of the lecture-the length of
it considerable abridged, I can tell
you've hurried from the room, the
doctor going with us, but not without
first slipping in some clever words
about the ''as yet unraveled mysteries
of SCIENCE" professional secrets" and
"discretion generally" as necessary q
quality to the success of a physician, so
the doctor stated, as knowledge of the
calling itself. All the same he took
good care not to refer to what we had
seen and heard at the opening of the
lecture. but he knew that we had I'M
derstood his meaning, and read upon
our faces, as by tacit consent, the prom
Use of inviolate secrecy. . WE'LL
and we keptit, said Gerald, laying a
side his cigar and raising to leave the
room: but it is needless to say that I
have never since attended a dissecting
seance. AS for Pietro Gonzalez, he is
not a doctor. The peaceful ~ayocation
of Calabrian s~heep-raising insomnia no
longer sits upon his pillow and plaques
him with a scalpel'-Adapted by a. de
Lanzieres Themines. -.
Garfield Was q Gentleman. -
When Garfeld's name became promi.